Virginia Morrison
Virginia Mae Rives Morrison, who with her husband Dr. Richard Morrison, were Terre Du Lac residents for over a decade, died suddenly on March 24, 2003, at their residence in Pensacola, Fla.
She was born to Kent K. Rives and Lillie Rasmussen Rives on March 30, 1918 in St. Louis.
After her mother’s early death, she was raised primarily by paternal aunts Zena, Reba and Nell Rives, in rural Illinois and St. Louis. She attended Stephens College in Columbia, MO, and the Washington University School Of Fine Arts, St. Louis. She was an artist and photographer at Washington U., from 1949 until 1955 when she married Dr. Richard Morrison.
The couple with their daughter Nancy lived variously in Kirkwood and Webster Groves, Mo. In 1966-67 they resided in Baghdad, Iraq, where Dr. Morrison was a visiting professor. Later in the 1980s she moved with her husband to Bull Shoals Lake in the Missouri Ozarks spending the winters in South Padre Island, TX, and Mexico. In 1991 the couple purchased a home in Terre Du Lac which they sold only recently.
Virginia was active in the Greater St. Louis Book Fair for more than 40 years helping the Fair grow from a neighborhood affair into a national attraction. She was a chairperson for the Fair in 1975. She was an active member of Chapter HJ, PEO Sisterhood, Farmington, MO. where she served as recording secretary and on various committees. An accomplished water color artist, she took a special interest in the Senior Scholar Program at Mineral Area College. Virginia belonged to the TDL Women’s Club until moving to Pensacola last year.
She was preceded in death by her parents, aunts, stepmother Helen Rives, and brother Kent K. Rives, Jr. She is survived by her husband, daughter Nancy E. Nesvik, son-in-law Kent E. Nesvik and grandsons Brent, Gregory and Douglas Nesvik, all of Pensacola, brother- and sister-in-law Russell and Barbara Brooks of Manchester, MO, 8 nieces and nephews, 2 cousins, and many great-nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be made to Chapter HJ, PEO Educational Projects, Box 423, Farmington, MO 63640.
